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beaten dogs

Wiley E. Coyote is my oldest Huksy, I adopted him from a no kill shelter. He was 6 months old when taken out of his first home. Animal control did this, he was then taken to a no kill shelter and he wanted to kill everything and everyone. They worked with him for a year! I then adopted him.

He is so sweet to me but has a very low self esteem. Like Bogle said her dog is, he is affraid of everything.

And then to make it worse he wants to protect me no matter what. So this means no one can come into the yard or near me. I'm so scared that he will bit someone someday. He is in a fenced yard and he goes with me everywhere. When I take the dogs to work with me I put Wiley in the office so he doesn't growl at my son.

What can you do, I have taken him to classes, privet training, my training.

I'm sure a lot of you are going through the same thing. Any tips??

I have to add he has come a long long ways since I have gotten him. I'm just hoping that someone know something to help.

Thats good that hes improving, that means he will still continue to get better. I responded to a similar post I'll add it when I'm thru.

I have similar problems with Rocky, he is VERY attached to me. He gets depressed when I'm not around and sometimes makes himself sick. He relies too much on me. What I've been trying to do is have him interact with other people besides me. Let them give him treats, play ball with him. Let him know that these people won't hurt him or you. Hes got trust issues.

Heres what I posted before: Try bringing him to a dog park. Get him socialized. He may be a little standoffish at first, but get him to know other dogs.

Do you sleep with your dog?? I did, and I let him on the bed. He usually wanted to sleep on the floor, but I gave him the option.

Don't yell at him or raise your hand. If he makes a mistake, use a stern voice and correct him. It may take patience, but you want him to trust you and know that you won't hurt him.

Give him lotsa love. Let him know that not all humans are bad. Belly rubs, talk to him, pet him, give him kisses. Spend extra time with him.

It may take a while for him to come out of his shell, but by doing these things, I think you can help him.

What you are doing is great. And if you need anymore help, I'll giive you the best advice I can.

No they don't sleep with me. I crate them at night. I do run a doggie day care on Sat. so he does get exposed to other dogs. When he gets excited he becomes aggressive. I look at him and point my finger and say NO. He calms right down.

I really would like to meet the first owners of this dog! I just cry sometimes because I feel so bad for him and what they did to him.

When the other dogs come it is funny, some run in and he is playing with them and the ones it seem that are not netuered he doesn't like at first but then warms up. I have to be out there so he doesn't get excited or I should say to calm him down. This is just the first 30 seconds. When they enter the gate.

I adopted Ripley when she was 10 months old. No one knows what her history was. She was at rottie rescue even though she's about half rott. She had no self esteem. She was fearful and unsure but would still try to protect me. I enrolled her in obedience classes and continued every week for 2 years. I took her all kinds of places starting out with parks and places where we could keep our distance and working our way up to shopping malls. I believe I did everything I possibly could. She got better but is still concerned with strangers. It is almost like she can't make her own decisions about people or situations.

Here's the problem. Not to discourage you or anything BUT sometimes all the socialization in the world doesn't help completely. You can only turn a dog around so much. Ripley is now almost 11 years old. When new people come over sometimes she growls sometimes she doesn't. I really watch when she is around my 2 and 4 year old. She can't be boarded and when she has routine stuff done like teeth cleaning I have to pick her up before she is fully awake because they can't get her out of the cage.

Is she worth it? Absolutely! She is one of the most loving and dedicated dogs I have ever owned.

I agree with Pwcorgilover. We got a dog from the local pound (wasn't much of an animal shelter back then) and she was only 3 months old but already terrified and snappish. We made a committment to the pup and stuck by it but in 10 years of training, love, and making every effort to socialize her and get her used to new people and animals she remained determined not to trust except for the "moment". We could invite someone over, sit them down, let them talk softly to her, get her to let them pet her, she'd really get into it with shoving her head under their arm and grunting in pleasur. They could leave and come back an hour later and she'd be barking and scared and we'd have to do the whole process over again no matter how many years she knew the person it would never change. We were never able to get rid of that fear and could never turn our backs on her if someone was visiting. She became super protective of me and one of my sons and would only trust our immediate family. She took a special dislike to one of our other dogs and they eventually had to be kept in separate halves of the house because of fighting. If you keep the dog never trust it with children or strangers. Since the dog has latched onto you as its savior you now have a one-person dog. It is a special relationship with a strong bond. I hope you can give the dog a forever home but don't expect to make it forget what happened to it and become "everybody's pal". You can certainly try but if the dog was too traumatized don't demand more than the dog can give.

Oh, there is no question, he is mine and this is his forever home. I wouldn't give him up ever! I have learned to crate him when there is children in the back yard or bring him in the house. I just keep him seperate from everyone.

It is terrible to be so traumatized at 3 months. The reason given by the previous owners for her being given up was "cannot housbreak". I can only imagine what they did to her before giving up. They also had stated that she was up-to-date on all her shots but no vet in the area had ever seen the dog except for one and no shots were given according to the vet's records. They wouldn't tell me the people's name or address. I only had the last name and the pup's description to go on but I'd have loved to give them an education.

I think a dog can be traumatized just by not socializing them properly. I don't think that Ripley was abused as much as I think she was ignored. You do the best you can but understand it may still not be enough to bypass all the trauma.

You have a long road ahead. What did the shelter to do help the dog with self esteem??? I have owned dogs like this, and to be blunt, one of them after 9 months, that was it, I had her euthanized. She was literally attacking my other dogs by the throat. I worked with her, but, my family members were also being bitten. Good luck

I believe the no kill shelter helped him alot as the gal that ran the shelter said all he wanted to do was kill everyone and everydog at the young age of 6 months.

She was very conserned when I got Wiley as I adopted him over the net at petfinders.

I couldn't get close to him the day I got him so the lady that transported him put him into the crate. All the way home he growled at me, OH MY< What did I get myself into.?? I sang to him, talked to him and the 5 hour trip home was scarry. When I got home I opened the crate and he was on a leash, he took off running and I gave him a good yank and yelled NO! That was it, I got to walk him and touch him.

I then put his crate in the house and I sleeped by it that night. The next morning he actied like he was with me forever.

He knows how to love and be soft. Just only to me and the rest of the human race he just doesn't want to be around. He does love his sister Blaze and doggie friends.